Chronicle review

Title: Chronicle

When: Sunday in February

Where: South Side Works full price

Mood: I had spent a pleasant afternoon with a friend, had a beautiful winter day, had eaten a good meal, and was ready to be entertained

Previews: The two that stood out were the Avengers and Hunger Games.  I'm excited for both!  Note to self: see Captain America soon before the Avengers.  I've seen Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, and every other super hero movie leading to the greatness of Joss Whedon's much anticipated Avengers.

Snack:  Popcorn from the snack bar.  I warn you this rant may be longer than the actual review.  This popcorn is HORRIBLE! The worst part is, I already knew this from previous experience.  It just smelled and looked good, and while it was edible, it has this weird fish oil like aftertaste that really is gross. Why I ever shelled out 5 bucks for this nasty treat is beyond my imagination.  I must have been hungry.

With Whom: Mr. Smith

I enjoyed this movie very much. 
That may sound boring, but it is the short truth.  I was looking forward to this movie since seeing the first previews and the only thing that would have prevented me from seeing it is the increasingly frequent commercials for it, especially during Teen Mom. 

You may think you have heard this story before, and I admit, it is a familiar combination of storylines.  Three teens, one a "loner, randomly discover a hole in the ground that leads them to have supernatural powers (flying, telekinesis, etc.) The loner has a rough life.  Dad beats him, mom is terminally ill, he is bullied, never kissed a girl, all the teen angst issues rolled into one character.  The two other characters are popular and he is only with them because one is his cousin.  However, with these new powers his popularity rises.

However, to paraphrase Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility. Funny, I always thought Yoda said that.  And what does power have to do with rice?  Anyway, I digress.

The bullied kid is the best at the new powers and the pent up aggression starts to leak as he starts getting revenge and causing friction with the other two boys.  I couldn't put my finger on where we may have seen this before until Mr. Smith mentioned the great Stephen King's Carrie.  Yes, it is very, very similar to that story line.  In this case the bullied is a boy and the father is the whacked out parent instead of a girl and her mother. 

And then of course during some of the climatic scenes I was reminded of both the exploding several moments on screen during the shaky Transformers movies where it seems like the director just wanted to blow shit up, and of Hancock, where the characters really love each other but someone has to win.

The action is all filmed by characters in the movie.  They use the main characters filming themselves "chronicling" their new powers.  For other scenes, they use a female video blogger's footage and security and news cameras angles.  This technique was used in Blair Witch Project and other movies but was still a good technique to use. If not they would have had to rename the movie.

All joking aside, I was entertained, satisfied with the ending, enjoyed the plot, and even though I thought it was a horror film from the ads, I was not disappointed.  I would recommend it for a future Netflix or Red Box rental.

Even with all of these copycat issues, I really liked the movie.

Random Facts:  According to IMDB.com, the main character and the girl who plays Monica have been dating for 6 years.

The one character played Alex on Parenthood.  They randomly wrote him out of that show and he sort of disappeared from that world. When he first appeared in the ads we joked "There he is!"  I like his acting and hope to see him in more things soon. His name isn't hard to remember, it is Michael B. Jordan. Many of you know him as Vince from Friday Night Lights.

Rating: 4 out of 5 bags of popcorn.  The good kind, not South Side works!